Fibrous cord



BY M INVENTOR. @1MM 610 SUT/MG .DEV/C5 J. OVERBEKE FIBROUS CORD Filed July 2, 1945 June lg.

Patented June 11', 1946 UNITED s'rfrrss PATENT orrlcs FmnoUs como John Overbeke, Cleveland Heights, Ohio Y Application July 2, 1943, sensi No, 493,226

An impregnated cord produced by 'my apparatus and process is suitable for brushes for industrial purposes or the like. The impregnated cord is relatively thin and is capable of with# standing a terrific amount of severe abuse in the polishingand surfacing of metals and other materials requiring polishing and surfacing. The impregnated cord is thus used for bristles in brushes and the like.

In the practice of my invention, the cord is impregnated with glue or any other suitable viscous substance. The glue or other viscous substance may have iinely divided abrasive material therein to produce a more vigorous polishing or surfacing action upon the metal or other substance being processed. Thus, or example, the glue or other viscous substance may have iinely divided abrasive materials in the nature of powder or in larger particles so long as the abrasive material is capable of remaining in suspension in the glue or other viscous substance during the process of impregnating the cord with the glue. As used herein, the term glue or other viscous substance is interpreted'to include the abrasive material or substance therein. Also as used herein, the term glue or viscousglue is meant any viscous liquid which when soaked into the cord will act as a binding medium for compacting or anchoring the strands of the c ord.

In the impregnation of a cord with glue ,or other viscous substance, a great deal of difllculty has been experienced in forcibly causing the glue or other viscous substance to penetrate the cord and completely nll the interstices of the cord to render the cord uniform. In using a fibrous impregnated cord as the bristle for a brush, it is essential that the bristles be uniformly impregnated throughout their length because if non-uniformity exists in the impregnation of the cord, some of the bristles will wear away sooner than others leaving the brush in poor condition to do a. good polishing or surfacing operation.

An object of my invention is the process of impregnating a fibrous cord with glue or other viscous substance so that the impregnation is thoroughly uniform throughout the length of the cord or bristle.

Another object of my invention is to provide for impregnating a roll of fibrous cord with viscous glue by unwinding the cord from the roll with the roll revolving in the glue.

The cord is'of the woven basket-weave type..

The cord is produced by the interlacing of a plurality of strands and is woven in a criss-cross 3/ claims. (ci. sil-1) manner and producesv a compacting of the strands as the longitudinal length of the cord is increased by pulling on same. 'I'he cord may be woven with a hollow core or may be woven `fiat without a hollow core. When the cord is stretched under tension, the diameter or crosssectional dimensions of the cord bec'ome smaller and the strands of the cord become closely compacted, and in the case of the hollow cord, produce a relatively small hollow core therein.

Therefore, a further object of my invention is to provide for impregnating or soaking a hollow nbrous cord in glue or other viscous substance when in -an unstretched condition to ll the hollow cord or openings between the strands of the criss-cross weave with the glue or other viscous substance and then stretch the cord to force the glue outwardly into the interstices of the cord.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of my invention may be had by referring to the following description and claims, taken in con- A junction with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 represents a diagrammatic side eleva# tional view of apparatus for carrying out the process of impregnating other viscous material in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a view of a small piece of fibrous cord woven in `a criss-cross or basketdike manner 'and having a hollow core extending longitudinally therein;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 with the cord stretched showing the hollow core with a. minimum diameter and with the strands closely compacted.

Figure 4 is'a view of a small piece of flat fibrous cord woven in a criss-cross or basket-like manner and unstretched; and y Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 with the cord stretched and with the strands closely compacted.

With reference to Figure 1, I illustrate a process, and apparatus for impregnating a fibrous cord Il with viscous glue or other substance I5 contained in a vessel I4. Heat is applied to the vessel to render the glue soft, thin and usable for impregnation. The cord Il is unwound from a. roll of brous cord illustrated by the reference character l0. In the practice of my invention, I may employ a single roll Ill or a plurality of rolls, and the cord I l is unwound from the roll Il) with the roll revolving in the glue. In the drawing I illustrate the 'roll i0 being completely immersed below the level of the glue. The cord Il as it is unwound from the roll I0 passes over a pulley 20 suitably supported upon the upper edge of the vessel I4. The cord Il upon leaving the pulley 20 passes through' a glue setting device 22 and then it is wound into a. roll 23 which may be actuthe cord with glue or vbetween adjacent layers of the cord so that the glue may gradually soak itself easily into the roll. In this manner the` glue is givena relatively long period of time inwhich to soak into the cord before the cord passes out of the vessel I8 yand upon the pulley 2li. In the practice of my invention, I preferably immerse the entire roll of cord below the level of the glue, but I find that satisfactory results may be obtained if the roll is not entirely immersed, because the roll revolves as the cord is withdrawn therefrom. Thus the layers of the cord upon the roll are soaked with glue long prior to the time that vthe last layer or outsidelayer is Withdrawn from the roll. Another advantage of withdrawing the cord with lthe roll revolving in the glue is that I do not need to employ rollers to. force or squeeze the glue into Vthe cord and I accordingly obviate the requirement ofputting a great deal of tension upon the cord as it is removed from the vessel. In addition, the revolving rolls agitate the glue and keep the constituency uniform. 'I'he glue is permitted to soak into the cord in an unstretched condition as shown in Figure 2 with the result that the glue l5 completely lls the hollow core indicated by the reference character 29. The cord il is unwound from the roll by pulling on same and the tension which is applied to the cord causes the criss-cross weave of the cord to reduce the diameter of the'hollow core with the result that the gluewithin the hollow core as shown in Figure 2 is` squeezed outwardly through the interstices of the cord.-

The reference character 28 represents the outside diameter of the cord and it is observedthat the outside diameter of the cord ln Figure 2 is much larger than the outside diameter of the cord in Figure 3. y

The character of the glue within the cord in Figure 3 is such that there is a central core of glue with glue-like projections extending outwardly from the central core and filling the interstices of the cord. InA the case of the at woven criss-cross woven cord, the glue fills the spaces between the strands when the cord is in an unstretched condition, being the condition when the roll is being soaked in the glue. The cord ll is unwound from the roll by pulling on same and the `tension which is*l applied to the cord causes the criss-cross weave of the cord to reduce the cross-sectional dimensions of the cord with the result that the glue Within the spaces Within the strands of the cord as shown in Figure 4 is squeezed outwardly through the interstices of the cord, making the strands of the cord appear 'condition'and is subsequently forced to the out- "the strands of the c ord to become closely .compaCted. I find that a fibrous cordmade in'accordance with the teaching of my invention is very durable and will 1. A brous bristle suitable for brushes or the go into the inside of the mrd in an unstretchedl side by the stretching ofthe cord which causes withstand agreat deal of abuse as a brush bristle. The strands of the cord are closely compacted around the. glue and the glue is not whipped off during brushing operations. Although I have described my invention with a certain degree of particularity, it is' understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes' in the details of construction and the'y combi nation and arrangement of parts may be .resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claimoas my invention:

like comprising \a, braided fibrous cord of interlaced strands having a hollow core, said hollow core of the braided fibrous cord being impregnated with glue and forming a central core of glue with thebraided strands of the cord closely compacted around the central core ofthe glue, said `central core of glue having minute projecting portions formed integrally with the said core and extending outwardly into the interstices of the compacted'cord, said glue in the y cord being set to render the cord relatively sti, whereby the central core anchors the said projecting portions 'and the fibers of the cord into a unitary solid mass.

2. A fibrous bristle suitable for brushes or the like comprising a braided fibrous cord consisting of interlaced strands havingA a hollow core, said hollow core of the braided fibrous cord being impregnated with viscous substances and forming a central core of viscous substance with the braided strands of the cord closely compacted around the central core of the viscoussubstance,

compacted as shown in Figure 5. The outside edge of the at cord is representedvby the reference character 30 and it is observed that the distance 'between the outside edges of the cord in Figure 5 which is stretched, is much less than the distance between the outside edges of the cord in Figure 4 which is unstretched. The reference character 3l represents the spacesl between the strands in the unstretched condition and these spaces are substantially eliminated when the cord is stretched so that the glue which formerly occupied the spaces between the strands in an unstretched condition is forced outwardly from the cord. In both the hollow cord and in the'fiat cord, the action of my invention is substantially the same in that the glue is caused to said` central core of viscous substance having minute projection portions extending outwardly into the interstices of the compacted cord, said viscous substance in the cord being set to render the cord relatively stiff, whereby the central core anchors the said minute portions and the fibers of the core-into a unitary solid' mass.

3. The process of impregnating a fibrous cord y with viscous glue comprising the steps of winding a hollow braided cord having a cross-sectional area defined vby loosely braided strands into a wound roll with space between adjacent turns so that the glue may penetrate the wound roll between the adjacent` turns when the roll is placed in the glue, soaking and saturating the wound roll of the fibrous cord in the viscous glue and thereby allowing the glue tov penetrate the turns of the cord and flll the hollow core and the interstices between the strands prior to the' time that the cord is withdrawn from the roll, withdrawing the soaked cord from the roll under suiiicient tension to turn the roll in theglue and thereby elongate the cord and reduce the cross-sectional area of the cord to squeeze excess glue outwardly through the interstices of the cord, but still retain a central core of glue withsolid mass.

in the hollow cord whereby the central core anchors the impregnated strands into a unitary JOHN. QVERBEKE. 

